Movie night, lake day, park, getting caught in the rain

Thomas had the speakers installed perfectly and we were finally on for movie night. It was a lot of fingers crossed to make sure the converters worked for our expensive electronics, (and many power-surges that left the house in many black-outs...but it was worth it to be able to watch a movie (of course TV hasn't been set up yet, and we only have a collection of cartoons bc we were never big movie buyers:))

Movie night about to start...

It is working!!!

On Monday I brought the boys by bike to the lake swimming area near us. It's about 1.5 miles to get up a nice beach. Alex was in the water for about 2 min when he got out shivering...

And Ben stayed warm on the dock...

It was a beautiful day!

The next day I promised Alex to ride our bikes to the basketball courts and it was much colder and cloudier. 

Ben rode around while brother was working out:)

After a while it started to downpour, (not quite like a Florida rain) and we had to ride back in the rain, but the cool weather was a relief since its been so hot upstairs at night and we get mosquitoes if we leave the windows open in the dark...

We were so cold after, we heated up in the sauna, I laugh bc I think if I'm this cold now and need the sauna to get warm, what will the winter be like...stay tuned for that!!!

I realize I haven't given my address out to anyone who might want it...(mom:))

I know it costs a ton to send things and I enjoy emails, but for those of you who might need the address in case they are gonna pop-over (mom:)), its:

Hedasvagan 41

811 61 Sandviken

Sweden

Yes, the street name comes before the number, and the zip code comes before the city name. 

Amusement Park in Stockholm

After a long week of work and stating home bound, we finally made it out. Thomas took us to an amusement park he had been to when he was nine with his parents. It's called Gruna Lund, (I think it translates to Green land). It was a beautiful day and it was great to see a part of Stockholm. It was about 1 hr 45 min away from the house but the trickiest part was that there was no specific parking for the park specifically. That is strange to me bc even at the Bronx zoo there is parking for a fee. Well all directions online made suggestions from each directions to park on the outskirts and take first a train then a tram in to the park, and it even talked about a bridge you could walk over since it was closed to traffic other than taxis and buses on the weekends. We decided to get as close to the park as possible and then park and try to walk. It worked out bc parking on the streets was free on the weekends and there wasn't a ton of traffic as I imagine there could be on a weekday. 

Walking over the bridge:)

This amusement park was very nice. The cool thing was you paid about $15/ person to get into the park then you could buy a wristband for riding all the rides, or you could pay per ride. We bought the kids a wristband and that put their ticket around $50, but they had a great time and we mostly watched them and met them after the ride. 

This ride Alex rode but Ben was too short...

This was a staircase of a funhouse. It was moving each side against the other side so you had to get a rhythm to climb it. Both Thomas and I watched as people struggled and held on and almost fell, but we commented that there was no one supervising and that they could fall down at anytime. Later we did see that they had the power to stop it if someone was struggling, but if still seemed dangerous to the uncoordinated:)

They rode a giant skyscraper swing!

Coming down from the swing

Of course there were bumper cars...

And Thomas rode a free fall ride with Alex:)

The most unusual thing I saw there that I never saw at an amusement park in the states was a game they played for a giant box of candy! It was gambling, they placed money on a number and if it came up they won. Here are picks of the prizes...

They won Cheesedoodles...

Other candies that could be won. By the end of the day, many people were carrying these. We tried once but lost:(

It was a great day and we made it home by eight to have some grilled burgers on Thomas's new grill:)

Swedish Meatballs, Induction oven, more settling in!

Well, this week hasn't been adventurous as much as it has been work. Again I can't complain because the kids are amazing. They are helpful, playful and getting along great!

Alex has fallen in love with Swedish Meatballs (They just call them meatballs here). He has had them at IKEA a bunch and I bought frozen ones at the store for dinner one night and I think he was more excited about that night then the taco night we had before. 

The next night was a new barrier. As I almost set fire to the oven, you would think I have overcome my oven troubles, but I was so excited to get my pots the other day that I tried to make tacos that I had been promising Alex since we moved here. I went to turn in the stovetop, but it wouldn't work. Thomas took a look at it and he couldn't get it on either. (There was power, it just wouldn't start heating). He looked at the manual and it said it was an induction stovetop (which is supposed to be energy efficient) and the pots had to contain iron bc it worked as a magnet. Seriously!!! None of my pans worked!!!  Not one! That night i browned the beef in the oven (my new friend). We went to ikea the next day and bought a new set that thankfully did work, but it's frustrating to have all these pots that won't work. 

There are two levels on the oven not sure why, but one is convection too. 

Their trash bags for the kitchen are ultra tiny...

And take a look at the dishwasher hidden as a cabinet...

That's pretty cool. 

We bought a vacuum:) Ben was thrilled to be able to clean:)

And Thomas has had his own project...

He loves his electronics, he is mounting speakers to the front and rear if the room...

Here he mounted them on the staircase going downstairs. You can see the wire hanging below the railing...he will be running that to the basement floor where he will have some wireless system to play these back speakers...

The great news is that with all the converters that he bought before we left, we were able to hook up the kids TV and Xbox and Wii for their room. It actually worked and they were so excited to play. This saves us a ton of money from having to repurchase these things over hear, which leads me to my next subject...how much stuff costs!

I constantly convert things in my head to see what it would cost in dollars, I should stop doing that bc it is a lot!!! For instance, it seems like everything at the grocery store costs $4.00, they just change the quantity. About 10 thin slices of ham, half a bunch of broccoli, or a loaf of bread will cost you that much. Each cleaning product and hair care product seems to cost about $6.00, and if you purchase a half liter bottle of soda at the gas station, that's going to cost $3.50. Not sure how much gas costs yet, it says 14.48/Liter here but we have diesel and it seems to last forever. We have been driving for two weeks and haven't needed a refill yet. 

Thomas finally put his Weber together the other night and we purchased burgers and propane (it cost about $200 for the first tank, but refills aren't that bad). 

Anyway, after working hard all day on his speaker project, he went to start the grill, and found out that we need an adapter for the hose since the US version attaches to the propane differently, ugh!!! Another set back, but Thomas will look for an attachment today so maybe grilling tonight:)

Also, for those of you I promised to call/ FaceTime, things work very slowly here, especially in the summer when everyone is off. Internet was almost impossible to order and it will take about two weeks they say to get someone to install it, but we have no set time with anyone yet...Also TV is about the same, it may take two weeks as well. Ugh, living without these luxuries hasn't been thrilling, but making due. Also, we can't order a cell phone plan bc we need to have our Swedish Social Security number for 6 months and Thomas got one in June, but that isn't helpful until November. Our option will be to purchase prepaid cards for our phones until then, but we haven't done that yet...

Again, it's been great hearing from you all and we have been thinking of you! Hope everyone is enjoying the rest of this short summer we have left, it will go by fast. Email me or FB me if you get a chance to let us know how your family is doing!

My email is cara.duffaut@gmail.com if you don't already have it, and I will post a U.S. number as soon as the Internet is installed and you can call for free:)

Moving day preview of the house...

The movers came yesterday and were here by 12:30 and gone by 5:00. That seemed impossible since they reloaded our stuff from the shipment container to two smaller trucks full of boxes and furniture. But they set up beds and all, just have boxes and boxes and boxes to go through now. 

The kids were so excited to find their basketballs and basketball sneakers that got on the truck. Also, Thomas went to work right away with the highest priority project of course...setting up the basketball hoop. There were lots of pieces missing, but Thomas improvised with some tools he unpacked...

The boys were helping Thomas while I was unloading the kitchen.  By 9:00 the first baskets were being made!

Then Thomas went down to the basement and Ben followed...Thomas couldn't resist Ben's next highest priority request...putting together the pop-a-shot indoor basketball system. It took Thomas until 11:30,and he was a trooper, but it was worth it because again the boys were thrilled!!!

So happy to see our stuff getting off the trucks and everything looks to be in great condition so far! The most exciting was seeing my new adirondack chairs!!!

(Notice the Weber in the background that made it too:))

More pics of the house (excuse the mess)

Kitchen

Dining room pic 1

Dining room pic 2

What I guess we call a living room

Through the living room is this room...I guess we call a family room (Thomas loves this room bc of all the windows)

Another angle of family room

This can be used as a bedroom in the basement...that while wall is closets, but the kids will use it as a gaming room

Another angle of that room

This is the room popashot is set up in...also doubles as a gym possibly...

Nice size laundry room as well in the basement along with two large storage rooms and three large storage closets b

Moving upstairs...

Small bedroom on the main floor...perfect for guests, hint, hint...

The main foyer to get upstairs...

Approaching the top of the stairs we have a desk to the right...

And put our dresser from our bedroom set to the left since the ceilings in the master are at an angle so the mirror would not have been able to be put up in there...

There is a fireplace in this area too as well as a door leading to a huge balcony. (I believe I have seen people use this space as a family room, but we like it like this for now...

Balcony...

Our bedroom

Ben's room

Alex's room

I will update some more complete rooms as we get settled...